Tamora Pierce

So I love books by Tamora Pierce. She is so creative. The worlds she creates are consistent, believable, and really like another world. I envy that ability in writing. Every time I try to write like that it turns into a History paper (curse my degree in History!!!!) The characters are believable and lovable, in their own way. On of my favorite of her series are the "Trickster's Choice" and the "Trickster's Queen". Mostly because they are more political histories rather than outright warrior women like her other books.

That is her only down fall...her characters tend to have the same driven personalities...She tries to change it up a bit, but they are basically the same. I think it is her own personality coming out in her characters, so it isn't a bad thing. Ms. Pierce is just putting herself into her stories, another thing that makes her characters so endearing.

The other thing that I struggle with is that her characters always seem far older than they actually are. In her "Circle of Magic" series, she has her ten year old characters dealing with things that any ten year old, no matter what their lives have been, wouldn't be able to handle. It is kind of like a 30 year old coming out of a 10 year old body. In spite of that, I still love those books, and the characters. I just feel that she expects too much of her young characters.

I am glad that she stopped doing the quartet series style of writing. I have found that Ms. Pierce is much more thorough in her story telling style by avoiding the quartet. Namely "The Trickster's Choice" series. The book and its sequel is full of color, intrigue, and a very believable revolution. The intricacy of the plot is never less than perfect. Makes me shiver with the complete order, just like a perfect 4 part harmony. I also have enjoyed the "Beka Cooper" series about a "Dog" (or law enforcer) in the slums.

The one thing that stops me from buying her books. I hate that she feels like it is necessary for most (not all) of her characters to have sex by the time they are 16 or so. I think this is the whole young adult novel thing coming out. (almost all YA novels I have read discuss sex one way or another...at least modern ones. Older ones just talk about relationships) I have gathered from reading Ms. Pierce's bio at the end of her books that she is rather feminist, so I think it is just her opinion coming out, but I still have a hard time when one of the character's mother is encouraging her to sleep with a lot of different men (or "try out" relationships) before settling down to just one. I actually find it tasteless to talk about sex at all in books (it is all about the shock factor, and it is getting old...at least I am getting bored) and talking about relationships is one thing, but since when did sex and relationships become synonymous?? I just don't think that it is very appropriate. But I also know I will be considered a prude for saying so.

Anyways, over all I find Tamora Pierce's books to be colorful, interesting with believable characters. She is a wonderful story teller and her books are always worth a read.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Not my favorite. These books got really popular this summer and after hearing all about it on facebook, I finally broke down and read them.

It is set in a post-apocalyptic USA, where on area of the US, titled the 'Captial' basically runs the other 12 districts of the US. Because of a long past rebellion and uprising, every year the Capitaltakes a male and female candidate from each of the 12 districts between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death in a huge arena, while every district watches.

So the story follows Katniss whose sister, Prim, is selected, so Katniss volunteers to take her place. With that being the whole premise of the story, it kind of bugged me (spoiler alert) that in the last book her sister dies because of her actions. Sort of.

By the third book the whole series turns in to a veritable bloodbath of a revolution where the 12 districts are trying to escape the oppressive rule of the Capital (by the way, did any one else notice how the capital seemed to be in Salt Lake City? Nestled in the Rockies?) The thing I guess I didn't like is the character development. Rather it was a character de-moralization. Katniss doesn't really change, she just goes insane, as does Peeta, her partner. They are manipulated and threatened and tortured by both the Capital and the revolutionaries, until they can't tell up from down. The story ends with Katniss spending her whole life trying to blot out the horrors that she has been forced to do and not really reaping the rewards of the over-thrown Capital.

This was not an uplifting trilogy. Maybe it could have been, but I don't think that that was the author's intent. (here I am putting words into the author's mouth...) It was about fighting for power, no matter the cost. Even though the twelve (and elusive thirteenth) districts had a right to live just as they did in the Capital, they wanted to do it and force the Capital to live as they had lived. I think the only noble thing that Katniss did in the entire book (really) was to kill President Coin, so that saner people could take control.

It did end relatively happy, but the emotional scars were there for the rest of Katniss' life. Understandable. But one would hope it would be offset by a bit of joy too.

Harry Potter and the... by JK Rowling

Oh Harry Potter...I love these books! I think I've touched briefly on them before, but they are my serious trip donn memory lane. One of the reasons I like these books so much is that I started reading them when I was 14 or 15 and as Harry grew up so did I. Maybe that is why so many women like Twilight...I personally think the first one was okay, then it just was dragged out from there. Anyways, moving on...

I own the entire Harry Potter set of books that I bought in England. For those of you who don't know, they changed some of the lingo slightly when the books were published in the USA, because we don't get thinks like "Car-parks" (parking lots) or "Lemon Sherbets" (which are basically lemon drops) so the American versions are a bit more Americanized. The earliest books were the ones that were changed the most (ex the British title is "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which by the way is more accurate for anyone who knows anything about mythology, especially alchemy...There is no such thing as a Sorcerer's stone in mythology...) I prefer the British versions, there is something so...so...BRITISH about them and it reminds me of England (I lived there for about a year going to college). In fact, I have actually never read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", the American version. Some one asked me what the difference was and I couldn't tell them...But from what I understand they are pretty close to the same now, probably because Scholastic finally realized that Americans do understand some British lingo, and it adds to the charm and appeal of the books. At least it always has for me! Mind you I read Dorthy Sayers and Agatha Christie for the Britishness, although I shouldn't really count those, because they are set in the '30s...

I actually prefer British authors over American ones when it comes the YA Fantasy. British authors know what their talking about, but Americans tend to tear old stories and myths to pieces and put them back together in a really patched up manner. Americans are too crass and are trying to get a "coming of age story" in the manner of Judy Blume mixed up with the fantasy, so the story-line gets a little lost in the process . It ends up being parallel stories. British authors manage to mix the two so the coming-of-age is part of the story-line...once again this is just my opinion. I think it has something to do with British authors practically being raised on old legends and myths, if not in their schools every town seems to have legends of some kind. I think it also has something to do with still having prayers in school and the Bible being part of the curriculem...Americans have a Puritian up bringing (don't deny it...it is part of the school system here), so their background tends to be more practical, more realistic and not so saturated with myth and legend (including the Bible, which I see as true, but it is still full of hard to believe stories). That is something we read in books, rarely do we experience it. At least in the West! We are also raised to see those stories and tales as taboo, almost embarassing to talk about (including the Bible to a degree!).

So we Americans tend to be a little awkward in writing YA fantasy, either going completely over the top (like those books that are completely set in foreign worlds and everything is a complicated mess) or we err on the side of reason, trying to explain every single detail or base our stories in as much reality as possible to escape sounding taboo. British authors know how to let the story explain much of the questions the reader might have about the story they read.

This is all my opinion, but I'll put a book back if it is written/set in America. Or at least I'll think twice! Although I have read some good books by Americans. I adore Patricia Wrede and I like Tamora Pierce (I have a hard time with her, because "coming-of-age" for her usually includes the character having sex for the first time...but not always!), Caroline Stevemere (sp?), Meg Cabot (she has such a witty sense of humor, I can't help but like these books! Not all her's are fantasy either, but she does really well with it). Notice that these are all women? Ironic...I prefer women writers, because they don't dwell on the scantly clad women characters...Almost every male fantasy writer has at one point or another had a scantly clad elf or queen, etc...blarg..male testosterone will ruin a good book every time! :)

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

I wasn't really expecting much from a Mormon fantasy writer (note, I am Mormon). In general, Mormon writers tend to sacrifice a good plot in favor of everybody being the good guy...it just is a little to goody-two-shoes for me, with exceptions to certain authors or books. Brandon Mull's Fablehaven was one of those exceptions.

The first time I read Fablehaven (the first book) I actually heard it, on audio book. Can I say that whoever was the reader/actor of that book did an awful job? His acting skills took away from my enjoyment of the book...the voices of the people lacked emotion, but the actual narrative wasn't bad. But because of this audio book I really had no desire to read the other books in the series.

I started to hear more about it, outside of deseret books on more nationally acclaimed reading lists and suggestions, so I got curious. I went to get them from my library and ever single copy was checked out and on hold for at least a month. So I got myself on the list and finally, FINALLY got the books. I was astonished. The series is full of imaginative creatures, a truly wonderful villain (which, in my opinion, makes fantasy really good or really bad...) characters that develop nicely, surprise twists and cliff-hanger endings. It was thought out and well put together with no plot-gaps or "oh i just thought of this I'm going to add it" plot developments (which, by the way, readers can see through...unless you do a REALLY good job of making it part of your story).

These books revolve around 13-15 year old Kendra and her 11-13 year old brother Seth. They go to stay with their grandparents on a sort of farm in New England and discover that it holds more secrets than they could have ever imagined. I just love how the main characters become essential to the community they discover and the main focus of the bad guys. It kind of has a Frodo feel to it, from being a simple middle-school kid to some one vital to saving the world, but the development is gradual and makes sense as the story progresses. It isn't a sudden switch. I became an addict overnight, from being unsure about the books to being desperate to get my hands on them. The final book in the series comes out this spring (I think) and I can't wait to get it.

Definitely worth checking out, and whatever you do, don't get the audio book...